Guide for roller-dies



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. J. OAPEWBLL.

GUIDE FOR ROLLER DIES. No. 393,356. Patented Nov. 27, 1888.

UNITED STATES FATENT FFICEQ GEORGE JOSEPH CAPEWELL, OF CHESHIRE, CONNECTICUT.

GUIDE FOR ROLLER=D|ES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,356, dated November 27, 1888.

Application filed March 20, 1888. Serial No. 267,809.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE J OSEPH CAPE- WELL, of Cheshire, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roller- Die Metal-Forming Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates to the class of metalforming machines in which a series of rollerdies are arranged in succession in pairs, and having between the said dies a passage or guideway that controls the direction of movement of the blank operated upon by the dies, and also determines its position for presentation to each succeeding pair of dies.

The object of my improvement is to provide a guideway having means for turning the blank upon its lengthwise axis while passing through the guideway, the said device being capable of directing imperfect as well as perfect blanks, and also of handling blanks of varying lengths.

My invention, as herein described and illustrated, is embodied in a machine for making horseshoe-nails, and in such machine a spiral guideway has been used that may be best de scribed as a tube having a way or opening lengthwise through it, oblong in cross-section, and having a lengthwise twist that forms a spiral passage that causes a blank to make a quarter-turn in passing through it. Such a guideway has the objection that a crooked blank will jam in it,and that one above a certain length cannot pass through it. It often happens where a nail is formed by compression in successive steps upon opposite sides after making a quarter-turn that a slight faultas a bend that stops the machine when using the old form of way-could be rolled out and a perfect nail produced if the blank could be passed to the next set of roller-dies, it being understood that the machine to which my invention refers is one in which the pairs of dies are arranged with their axes parallel and with the forming parts of the dies in a vertical plane, the nail turning as it passes between successive pairs of rolls and being pressed first Widtliwise, then depthwise t0 elongate the shank.

My improvement consists in a guideway (No model.)

formed in a block,with one or more of the walls provided with an inwardly-projecting shelf or guide terminating short of the end of the way or channel in a rather abrupt slope or turn, a peculiar feature of the guideway being that its bounding walls forming the opening or guideway are substantially parallel and have no spiral twist; and it further consists in a sectional guide-block partible lengthwise, having a straight guideway with an inward projecting guide on one or more sides located within or terminating at one end short of the end of the channel.

It further consists in the details of the several parts making up this sectional block,

whereby it may be separated if clogged by being pushed directly apart, or by rocking on either edge; and it further consists in the combination of the sectional block having its peculiar guideway, in combination with the rollerd1es,and in the details of the several parts and their combination, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a detail View, in elevation, of part of the front of a nail-making machine, illustrating the relative location of the roller-dies and the guideway between them, and also illustrating the position of the nail-blank as it enters the upper pair of dies and as it leaves the lower pair. Fig. 2 is a detail front view of onehalf of a guide-block of the prior art, havingv the spiral guideway. This view also shows three sections of the block taken on planes denoted by dotted lines opposite the sections. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are plan views, each showing the guideway in one-half of the guide-block having modifications of the guide, each of these views showing, also, sections of the guideblocks on a plane denoted by the dotted line opposite the guide-block. Fig. 8 is a detail View in cross-section of .part of the front of a nailmaking machine, taken on a horizontal plane passing through theguide-blbclgand alsoshowing part of the trip mechanism for stopping the machine when the guideway becomes clogged. Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view through the guide-block. Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the guide-block shown as opened by rocking on one edge. Fig. 11 is a detail cross-sectional view of the portable guidebloek, showing stops along each edge against which the outer section pivots in turning.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter (t denotes the front of a nail-making machine containing the parts directly relating to my within-described invention.

The letter Z) denotes the upper pair of roll er-dies, c the lower pair of roller-dies, and cl the guide-block located between the upper and lower pair of r'ollerdies. The nail blank centers the guideway from the pair of dies 1) after it has been operated upon edgewisc by the dies, and in passing through the guideway it makes a quarter-turn, so that the pair of roller dies 0 operate upon it ilatwise, these two positions of the nail blank 0 being represented in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In the guide-block fof theprior art there is a spiral guideway, f, formed when the two sections of the block are united, as by means of the dowels, each wall being continuous and unbroken and turning spirally, as is clearly shown by the several sections in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

The turning of the blank in the old guideway is effected by the contact of the blank with opposite sides of the guideway. In my improved form of guideway the walls are straight from end to end,as distinguished from twisted, and depend upon the guide that consists of a sloping project-ion located or originating about midway of the guide-block and forms the means of turning the blank. For example, in Fig. 3, in the guide-block g the guideway g slopes upward from a point just above the middle section, so that the blank e, when it reaches the end of this guide, has one corner-the left as the figure is looked atlifted, so that it is turned from the position it occupied, as shown in dotted lines in the first section, to the position shown in the second section, and finally to that shown in the third section, in which latter position it is turned one-quarter around, and is presented to the next pair of dies when it emerges to be operated upon flatwise of the nail when it enters the guideway, after having been operated upon edgewise of the nail.

The several modifications of guide-blocks shown at h and h in Fig. 4, i and i in Fig. 5, j and j in-Fig. 6, and k and 7c in Fig. 7 are alternate forms of the same device, having in each the straight guideway with walls inter rupted in their continuity on one or more of the opposite sides by the inwardly-projecting guides that are located within the length and substantially in the central portion of the guideway, existing as somewhat abrupt breaks. It is essential to the perfect operation ofa nail making machine that the guideblocks should be partible lengthwise, so that the line of passage of the blank from its entrance to its delivery from the machine may be accessible, and for the further purpose of enabling the machine to be automaticin stopping any obstruetion of the passage, causing the outer section, as Z, (see Fig. 8,) to be forced out against the lever m,that operates upon the trip device a and connected mechanism that stops the machine. This outer section, Z, of a guide-block may be pushed directlyoutward; or it may be rocked upon one corner, as shown in Fig. 10, the tapered form of dowel Z permitting the block to rock or turn on either edge. As a modification of the dowel, or in addition to it, I may make use of the stop 0, that is a projecting flange along the edges of the inner guide'block that forms the fulcrum upon which the block may turn.

My invention is not limited to any specific form or special arrangement of the guide, nor to the number of faces of the guideway upon which it shall be arranged, as it is evident that this inwardly-projecting guide may be modified as to its form and location by the ordinary skill of one versed in the art without departing from the idea involved.

I claim as my invention- I. In a nail-making or like machine of the withindescribed class, a guideblock having a straight guideway, as distinguished from a spiral or twisted one, the said guideway continuous therethrough and with an inward projecting guide formed on one or more of the walls all substantially as described.

2. In combination with two sets of rollerdies, a sectional guideway located between the dies and having a passage through said guideblock located in the plane of the dies, the said guideway having an inward projecting guide, whereby a blank of metal is caused to makea quarter-turn in passing through the guideway, all substantially as described.

3. In combination with a nail-making machine having two or more pairs of roller-dies, a sectional guideblock located between the pairs of dies, the lover of the stop-motion mechanism normallyin contact with the outer guide-block section, and the tapered tenons, whereby the two sections of the guide-block are held against sliding motion on each other, all substantially as described.

GEORGE J OSEPl-I (JAPEWELL.

Witnesses:

EVERETT E. Dow, ARTHUR B. JENKINS. 

